Four years after the release of her mega hit single “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here,” Deborah Cox has followed Clive Davis from Arista to J and hooked up with a host of producers—including Jermaine Dupri, Warryn Campbell, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Rodney Jerkins, and “Nobody’s” co-writer Shep Crawford—to record her third album. Cox’s strong suit still remains soaring ballads in the “Nobody’s” vein. Most noteworthy on that front are Crawford’s compelling “Starting With You,” the Campbell-helmed title track, and Jam & Lewis’ “Hurt So Much.” But Cox’s more uptempo efforts yield mixed results. Current single “Up & Down (In & Out)” and “Oh My Gosh” call to mind Toni Braxton and Whitney Houston rather than Cox, while her teaming with rapper Kurupt on “Just a Dance” is formulaic. Exceptions are Dupri’s “2 Good 2 Be True” and Allen “Allstar” Gordon’s sassy “Givin’ It Up.”—GM
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